Exchange Lifeguards

1992 (vhs)

Johnny's comments:

Exchange Lifeguards (Wet And Wild Summer!) is a 1992 "save the landmark" comedy/drama where Bobby (Christopher Atkins) is gifted a coveted role of an exchange lifeguard because his father Mike McCain (Elliott Gould) is going ahead with building a resort at Mullet Beach in Australia. Really, he's scoping out the beach so that the resort can go ahead. Once he gets to the beach, it turns out that the lifesavers and a ragtag bunch who struggle at lifesaving championships and are all doing it for nothing. Led by Mick (Julian McMahon), they are struggling to keep the beach going and local interests are desperate to make the resort happen. Turns out Bobby is a pretty bad lifesaver but he catches the eye of lifeguard Julie (Rebekah Carlton) and he gets the support of the other lifeguards after he helps them train up for the lifesaving carnival. Meanwhile, it turns out that Mike's wife Donna (Lois Larimore) has been drugging Mike while scheming with ambitious underling Richard (Christopher Pate) to make it look like Mike is not mentally capable to run the company and that they can take it over and build the resort. Well, Mike stops taking his 'medication' and realises what is going on, so he heads to Australia with his own plan for an eco-resort. The Mullet Head locals find out that Bobby is actually working against them but his father comes in time and sells them on his plan, just in time for the big surf lifesaving carnival where winner takes all and they can save the beach from the evil developers. Predictable and lifeless movie, unsurprising as it's from absolute hack Phillip Avalon (Summer City, Summer City 2: Breaking Loose, Sher Mountains Killings Mystery, Fatal Bond, Signal One, Tunnel Vision, Liquid Bridge) who's never made a good movie. No one really shines here; Atkins tries but has nothing to work with. Gould is clear pay cheque mode and has some ridiculous scenes where he acts batty. Julian McMahon barely registers and would go onto far better things. Inexplicably, the beach has a small section where it's a nude beach (aren't they usually cordoned off?) so we get a fair bit of leering and an obligatory cast gets nude scene. One scene involving dog food being puts down a man's underpants so that a dog could have a feast is so out-of-place it just feels distasteful. Avalon's movies are always terrible but at least this one has a fair bit of nudity from the main cast, even if some of it seems tacked on to sell it to an American audience. It's not his worst movie and that's saying something but it's still a very poor and lazy movie.

Of course with every movie capped from VHS rips, the quality is down but the picture is mostly fine There was an issue with my copy of Exchange Lifeguards where in the first 20 minutes or so that audio is a bit noisy and it's noticeable in a few videos below. Maybe one day there will be upgrades, I see Exchange Lifeguards is on Tubi but it's fairly small in size. I might take a look at it though.

Rebekah Carlton, Amanda Newman Phillips and Vanessa Steele film clips (samples below)

Carlton

Phillips

Steele

unknown